Services: The community, business and personal services sector, providing
private health care, hotels, data processing services and professional sports franchises is Missouri's
leading service group. Ranking second is the wholesale (farm products, automobiles, groceries) and retail
(automobile dealerships, department stores, restaurants) trade sector. The finance, insurance and real
estate sector ranks as Missouri's third most important service group. St. Louis and Kansas City are
among the Midwest's leading financial cities.

Manufacturing: Transportation equipment is, by far, Missouri's leading manufacturing
sector. Products include airplanes, barges, railroad cars, truck and bus bodies and truck trailers.
Missouri is considered a leader in the production of automobiles and trucks. Dairy processing plants
and beer breweries make the food processing sector Missouri's second in the manufacturing industry.
Manufacture of chemicals (fertilizer, insecticide, paint, pharmaceuticals, soap) ranks third.

Agriculture: Livestock and livestock products are responsible for a little over
1/2 of Missouri's agricultural production. Crops account for the rest. Missouri is a leading state
in the production of beef cattle, hogs and turkeys with beef cattle and hogs providing the bulk of the
income in this sector. Some chickens and sheep are also raised in Missouri. Soybeans, from which oil is
made, are the states most important crop. Corn and grain sorghum, used for livestock feed, are also
important. Other field crops grown in Missouri are cotton, hay and wheat. Missouri's most valuable fruit
crops are apples, peaches, grapes and watermelons. A wide variety of vegetables are grown in the state.
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Mining: Lead, limestone (cement and crushed stone for roads) and coal are the most
important mined products of the state. Missouri leads the states in the production of lead. Copper,
silver and zinc are also produced by the lead mines.